Google plans to invest up to $40 billion in AI company Anthropic, combining cash and computing resources in one of the largest backing deals in the AI sector to date. The arrangement, reported by Bloomberg and confirmed by Anthropic, was announced in April 2026. Google’s parent company Alphabet is committing $10 billion immediately, with an additional $30 billion contingent on Anthropic meeting specific performance targets.
The initial investment values Anthropic at $350 billion — a figure that matches the company’s February 2026 valuation, though Bloomberg reports that investors have since sought to back Anthropic at $800 billion or more. The company is also reportedly considering an IPO as soon as October 2026.
Beyond the cash commitment, Google Cloud will provide Anthropic with 5 gigawatts of computing capacity over the next five years, with room to scale further. The deal expands an existing relationship: earlier in April 2026, Anthropic had already announced a partnership with Google and chipmaker Broadcom to access multiple gigawatts of TPU-based compute beginning in 2027, with a Broadcom securities filing placing that figure at 3.5 gigawatts. Anthropic relies heavily on Google Cloud for infrastructure, including access to Google’s tensor processing units (TPUs), specialized chips designed for AI workloads.
The investment comes as Anthropic faces mounting pressure to secure computing capacity. The company has faced widespread complaints about usage limits on its Claude AI assistant and has responded with a series of infrastructure agreements. Earlier in April 2026, Anthropic struck a deal with cloud provider CoreWeave for data center capacity, and this week secured an additional $5 billion from Amazon as part of a broader agreement under which Anthropic is expected to spend up to $100 billion for around 5 gigawatts of compute capacity over time.
The timing also follows Anthropic’s release of its latest AI model, Mythos, to a limited group of partners this month. Anthropic describes Mythos as its most powerful model to date, with significant cybersecurity applications. Due to concerns about potential misuse, Anthropic has restricted broader access while working with select organizations to evaluate risks — though the model has already reached unsanctioned hands, according to the source.
While Google competes directly with Anthropic in AI models, it also serves as a key infrastructure supplier to the company. The dual role highlights how compute access has become a central factor shaping the AI industry, with major players racing to lock in chip supply, data center capacity, and energy resources. OpenAI, for instance, has pursued multi-hundred-billion-dollar deals across cloud providers, chip suppliers, and energy, including an expanded agreement with chipmaker Cerebras announced this month.
Source: TechCrunch